By Randy Whalen

When Kevin Fitzgerald was named "Steelmen of the Year" at the 2023 Joliet Township Night of Champions he was introduced for the honor by then Joliet Central Athletic Director Jon Pereiro. 

"When I came in here as AD at the start of the 2021-22 school year, I got introduced to Kevin, who has been assistant AD since 2017," Pereiro said at that time. "I'd ask about something and everyone would be like, 'Oh don't worry, Kevin does that.'"

Well now Fitzgerald is the new Athletic Director at Joliet Central and he truly gets to do it all. Except he won't have to and that's a great thing.

"It was nice to officially take over," Fitzgerald said of his first official day on July 1. "It was all good and there are a great group of people that work here that are willing to help."

While the position of assistant athletic director hasn't been filled yet, Fitzgerald will have a lot of help from Steelmen athletic secretary, Renee Rink.

"Renee is very important to me to do my job," he said. "Especially going into a new role. Just in the understanding part, she is extremely helpful to me. Being the assistant AD for 7 years allowed me to definitely understand things and how everything works. But it's good to have people around that understand things."

Being an athletic director wasn't on Fitzgerald's radar when he went to Joliet West, where he graduated from in 2005. In fact, when he got out of college at Autora University he didn't go into education. 

"I took a sales position and did some time working for a company called "School Kids" where we would supply school supplies to kids," Fitzgerald said. "But sitting in an office all day at that point in my life didn't appeal to me. So I went back to school at Olivet Nazarene (in Bourbonnais) and got my teaching degree. 

"I student taught at Bolingbrook and then I was a para pro at Joliet West my first year. My first coaching job was in baseball at Joliet West but I was also at Joliet Central as an assistant freshmen boys basketball coach. Then the last 11 years have been at Joliet Central."

He became the head baseball coach in 2015 and was in it for a decade before getting the job as AD.

"Coaching at Central has been a wonderful experience for me and something that is hard for me to walk away from," Fitzgerald said. "I truly feel we have created an environment where we taught kids the right way to play the game and provided them with lessons beyond the baseball field. I was blessed to have great assistant coaches during my time at Central. 

"Those guys are the most important piece of a good program, all head coaches will say that. I’ve had several guys with me for five-plus years (Scott Darley and Andy Kochel) as well as three guys who were with me the entirety of my time as head coach (Tony Juarez, Mike Lara, and Chad Schwartz). These guys are a huge reason why I loved coaching every day and a reason why it was very difficult to move into a different role."

Not only will he miss coaching, he will miss teaching.

"I've always taught social studies-related classes," Fitzgerald said. "I really enjoyed the teaching and coaching part, so it was a difficult decision. But it was time. It's just different. It's time for a change and to move on. There was a lot of pride in our baseball program and it was a lot to give up. But sometimes it's best to move forward and it seemed like the right time.

"I'm ready for a change and it's going to be good."

When Fitzgerald was in high school, Chris Olson was the athletic director for the combined Joliet Township program. Steve Locke was the athletic director at Joliet Central when Fitzgerald first started as an assistant AD. He then worked under Jen Doede from 2019 to 2021 and recently for three years under Pereiro, who left to be the athletic director at Naperville North.

"No, I don't think so," Fitzgerald said when asked if he ever thought of becoming an AD when he was first starting out. "The reason that I got into education was coaching. But I enjoyed education too. 

"The ADs I worked under did a lot of good things for our school and I appreciate all of them. When the position became available three years ago, I was younger and liked helping out in the assistant AD role. But now, I was like 'This is what I want to do.' Hopefully, I can put my own spin on it."

While Fitzgerald will put his own stamp on the AD position, he credits a couple of influences on him. 

"Steve Milsaps has been very helpful and we bounce things off of each other," Fitzgerald said of the Joliet West AD. "Also, early on when I was coaching, I took a lot from (former Joliet Central football coach and now dean at the school) Brett Boyter. His enthusiasm and positive attitude. These relationships matter and they're going to benefit everyone.

"Our coaches do that every day and that's what we are. Onward and moving forward. There is always room for improvement. I've got to recharge myself to do better and have a growth mindset."

Growing up in the Joliet area, Fitzgerald lives in town and is tied to the "City of Champions."

"It's a big community but the high schools make it small," Fitzgerald said of the ties between Joliet Central and Joliet West. "This is where I want to be and this is what I want to do. This is who we are and want to be.

"When I got the position, everyone congratulated me and was super helpful. Everyone is there for the benefit of the students and athletes. We all help each other out where needed. We do a lot of really good things and will continue to. That's what it's about for me."